Dick Tracy (1945)

User Rating:

5.6/10   

Director:

William Berke

Writers:

Chester Gould (comic strip)
Eric Taylor (writer)

Release Date:

1 December 1945 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Mystery | Crime | Thriller

Tagline:

Hero to 30,000,000... Thrilling on the Screen!

Plot:

Dick is faced with a series of brutal murders in which the victims, all from different social and economic backgrounds...

Plot Keywords:

Murder Investigation | Dick Tracy | Based On Comic Strip | Beautiful Woman | Gagged And Bound

Cast

Morgan Conway	...	Dick Tracy
Anne Jeffreys	...	Tess Trueheart
Mike Mazurki	...	'Splitface'
Jane Greer	...	Judith Owens
Lyle Latell	...	Pat Patton
Joseph Crehan	...	Chief Brandon
Mickey Kuhn	...	Junior
Trevor Bardette	...	Prof. Linwood J. Starling
Morgan Wallace	...	Steve Owens
Milton Parsons	...	Deathridge the Undertaker
William Halligan	...	Mayor

Also Known As:

Dick Tracy, Detective (USA) (reissue title)
Splitface (UK)

Runtime:

61 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #10963) | Sweden:15

Company:

RKO Radio Pictures

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The French Connection (1971)

Chester Gould's character done right

It's kind of funny that the Warren Beatty Dick Tracy movie and Tim Burton's Batman movie were released so close to each other. Each movie tried valiantly to recreate the atmosphere of their respective comics with high impact visuals. However, Batman did a much better job carrying the comic's look and feel over to the big screen. The new Dick Tracy movie's wild colors and cheesy backdrops took away from the all-star cast that the producers put together. The original Dick Tracy movie featuring Morgan Conway is much more realistic and doesn't try as hard to be a live action comic strip and is the better movie for it.

First off, things must be said about Morgan Conway's portrayal of everyone's favorite detective. He bears a decent resemblance to his 2-D counterpart, but not one nearly as uncanny as Ralph Byrd's look. Nevertheless, Conway does a good job getting across Tracy's tough as nails yet sympathetic family-oriented character. You can't help but think that Conway looks and sounds too much like Humphrey Bogart to be Dick Tracy though.

Anne Jeffries and Mickey Kuhn as Tess and Junior do decent jobs as well. Pat Patton is a little deemphasized though, something that would remedied in future films. The scarred Splitface doesn't have the personality that some of the comic strip characters do, but he's passable as an original character. The whole movie doesn't try to be exactly like the comic as the 1960's Batman and the latest Dick Tracy movie did later. Rather, it's more true-to-life with some subtle hints of its comic roots. It keeps the stereotypical police department, the daring feats of courage by the heroes and the rogues gallery of characters from the strip while giving Dick Tracy's world a more real feel. That real-world feel puts this movie a cut above the 1990 movie.